Jade walked down the hallway with Andre by her side, fending off students who were trying to exit the building, while they were going towards the Black Box. It was harder to get through these students than she ever though possible. The school wasn't very big, so it shouldn't have very many students, but the hallway was crowded to the brim of people trying to get out of the building, and it amazed Jade.
Andre had to stop a few times to talk to a friend or two, but Jade didn't wait to be pushed slowly outside because the man had to flirt. She couldn't count how many people have pushed her shoulder, forcing her to move back an inch, making it even more difficult to be a fish swimming against the current. If she would have been outside, there would have been a fight.
Finally, they both made it through the crowd with very little injury so far. Jade could feel a bruise forming on her left shoulder already, and Andre was pretty sure his toe was going to be swollen by the end of the day. He was limping as he got into the theater.
Jade's heart dropped as soon as she saw who was all over each other on the stage.
Beck sat with his legs hanging over the stage edge, with Jessica between his legs. She was talking about something that seemed to be annoying Beck, but with every pause, she would kiss him on the lips or the neck.
Jade rolled her eyes as Sikowitz crawled onto the stage, a coconut in his hand, "Ms. D'Vito, get off of Mr. Oliver, right now."
"I'm practicing my part," she said with a smirk, kissing her boyfriend again. Beck's eyes were open during his girlfriend's rendition of a passionate kiss. He locked eyes with Jade, and as soon as that happen, a fuse in his mind was switched. He pushed his girlfriend away gently, much to her disappointment.
Jessica noticed his gaze landing on Jade, "well look who the cat dragged in."
"Wow. Did you come up with that one by yourself? Real talent, right there," Jade retorted. Andre laughed as he walked down the row of seats to meet up with Cat.
"There's our star!" Sikowitz said, rushing off stage, passing Jessica with a flick of his wrist in her face. She glared at him and huffed, turning around so Beck could comfort her. He hardly paid attention to his complaining girlfriend, his eyes still looking at Jade. "How are you this fine day?"
"I'm okay... I guess," Jade said as the teacher got to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and guided her to the stage where a few people were already setting up their stage equipment. Sinjin was even attempting to put on stick on boobs to make him look more like a girl. "Oh, Dante."
A boy, about five foot ten turned around with a dazzling smile. Jade's attention was immediately grabbed away from Beck, and onto the new face. His short hair was spiked in a slight fohawk that would have looked lame on anyone but him, and his light brown eyes surveyed Jade up and down. He was hot, yeah, but Jade had a feeling he was a complete jerk once you got to know him.
"Hello, I'm Dante," he said, reaching his hand out. Jade took it politely. She could feel a few different sets of eyes on her, and she was hoping one of them was from Beck. A perfect opportunity to make him jealous if he was that kind of guy, "It seems as though we're engaged."
"So you'll be playing Glenn? I think I can live with that," she said batting her eyes. He smirked back at her playfully.
"How lovely, you get along," Sikowitz said in a boring tone, "Five minutes until we start!"
While Jade and Dante started talking about their characters, trying to build up some chemistry between them, Jessica turned her attention to Beck. She kissed him on the cheek, "I'm gonna go change babe, okay?"
"Go ahead," Beck said, pushing himself off the stage. He left before she could even kiss him goodbye. Her instant instinct was deployed, she acted as though it was her choice and walked onto the stage, glaring at Jade one last time before going in the dressing room.
Beck walked over to Andre. Cat had already left to go to the dressing room so she could put on her make up and whatnot. He plopped down in the seat next to Andre, watching Jade and Dante talk on stage.
He felt something in the pit of his stomach that he wasn't used to. The feeling he had when his older brother got to stay out later, when he got a puppy when he was five and all of his mom's attention was taken from him. The feeling of jealousy.
Beck hardly ever got jealous, but now he was watching Jade flirt, while Jessica lived off attention of other guys and he didn't care. He wouldn't give two shits if she left him for someone else, he cared that much about her.
"Stop staring at her," Andre told him. Jade had given Andre a little incite to how she felt, and Beck had fully confided in Andre about his feelings. He was already Beck's best friend, and somehow, he became Jade's. Luckily, the man was good at keeping secrets.
"I can't help it," Beck stated. He could hear his own anger work it's way into his words.
"Well, you need to. Jessica's gonna kick your ass," Andre said as a joke.
Dante's hand ran up Jade's arm as she let out a laugh, batting her eyes again. Beck bit his tongue, stopping him from saying anything. He gripped the side of the chair, causing his knuckles to turn white with pressure.
"Damn man, they're only flirting. What're you going to do when they kiss?" Andre asked, preparing him for the worst.
"Kiss..?" Beck whispered in a harsh tone. His full attention was on Andre.
"They have to kiss in the play. He kisses her before you do. He's also going to kiss Jessica at the end," he filled him in.
"Wait... I get to kiss her too?"
"I love how you skip everything involving Jessica," Andre said with a laugh, "but yeah. Did you do any reading this weekend?"
"I read a take out menu? That's not the point. He's going to kiss her. I'm not okay with that, dude," Beck said, sending daggers through the air at Dante.
"Then break up with Jessica and go out with Jade."
"It's not that easy," Beck said, running a hand through his hair.
"It's only as easy as you let it be," Andre stated.
Sikowitz took center stage, "Places, people!..."
Dante waited off stage, watching Jade, Cat, and a girl named Kourtney start singing the song Pop, when Beck walked off stage to the same alcove as Dante. His quick change just so happened to be right next to where Dante enters.
"Hey man," he said to Beck in a whisper.
"'Sup?" Beck replied, not really in the mood to talk to him. He was still bitter about earlier.
"So... you're friends with Jade, right?"
Beck stripped off his shirt, grabbing the other one the girl had next to him. She tried to touch his stomach, but he caught her before she made it that far. The girl apologized quickly and left his side, leaving him alone with Dante.
"Something like that," he said.
"Well then let me cut to the chase: Do you think I have a chance to hit that? She's pretty fine, right?" he said as if finding her was an accomplishment.
"Don't touch her, bro," Beck warned with a bite.
"Woah, protective much? I'm not gonna actually hit her," he said as a joke. Beck didn't think it was very funny, "You've got Jessica anyway, so what does it matter?"
"It doesn't. Try your luck," Beck stated. He couldn't stop it from coming out. After he mentioned Jessica, Beck had to let Dante get his way in fear of him saying something to Jessica. "Jade wouldn't go for a guy like you anyway."
"How much do you want to bet I can?," Dante said, sizing up Beck. He smirked at him with one last look before his cue went off and he went back onto stage, fixing his tie and jacket.
"You'll be fine, just breathe," Cat said as "Holly" went off stage left, giving Jade's hand a squeeze.
"Hey, baby You look hot, lets eat," Dante said, grabbing her hand and leading her to the table in the middle. He shot a wink when he saw that Beck was still looking at him with a slight glare.
Jade sat down as Dante pulled the chair out for her before sitting down himself. The couple to the right of them started to cheer, as the waiters all walked over with a bottle of champagne, sending the cork flying through the air with a pop.
The stage around them stopped moving as Jade stood back up. She started to sing, "The reason why he chose this place is now so crystal clear. Like our relationship we're going 'round in circles here. And where he's sitting it's as if it all revolves around him..."
Dante turned his attention back to Jade, "Everybody's having champagne... you don't want any, do you?"
"I'm cool..." Jade stated before the entire room around her froze again, "If one more couple gets engaged or I hear one more cork... it's hari kari with this fancy little salad fork. He nixed the bubbly which can only mean the outlook is grim..."
She sat back down, looking down at her hands, "Alright, Glen, I know why we're here..."
"You do?" 'Glen' said with a hand moving up to nervously adjust his tie.
"This is the end, right?" she said, standing up and throwing her napkin down onto the floor.
"The end of what?" he grabbed her hand and stood up next to her.
"You know- 'the end.' The end of you and me as boyfriend and girlfriend."
"Actually, yeah it is," he fished down into his jacket pocket, pulling out a ring box, "Because, baby, I want us to be husband and wife."
Jade's face showed an excited expression, as Dante opened the box.
Everyone around them started to sing and move around the excited couple, "He totally popped the question, totally popped the question. So there's no reason to stop, and question his love, question his love, question his love..."
"What do you say?" Dante asked, slipping the fake ring onto her slim finger, adding it to the other rings that cluttered around her hand.
"Yes!" she said as she flung her arms around him in a hug, but when she pulled back, his lips landed on top of hers. It caught her by surprise, and it was in the script, but Jade didn't feel right with the kiss. She felt like there was absolutely no chemistry between the two.
Dante pressed his lips harder on hers, crushing them against her teeth. He felt a spark no one else had ever given him in a kiss. His tongue snaked out and licked her bottom lip, almost begging for a way in. Jade's eyes shot open and pushed him away.
"That was good! And a rap for today," Sikowitz said, walking over to them, while trying to avoid all the other people messing with the props and costumes, "Next time, a shorter kiss with less slobber."
Dante's face turned as red as an apple. He pulled up his jacket sleeve to cover his hand and wiped his face clear of any excess drool that may have escaped.
Jade took this as a safe cue to leave the school entirely. She pulled off her annoying blonde wig and sat it on the rack in the almost deserted dressing room. Her throat was bothering her more than she was used to after singing a simple song like that.
That's when she remembered that she had an Arizona Sweet Tea still in her backpack from lunch.
She went over to her locker and undid the lock, grabbing her bag out of there and setting it on the make-up counter. Her fingers fished to find the unopened bottle before she started one of those damn coughing fits. It was her own fault though; smoking marijuana and cigarettes can kill your throat, especially when you get cotton mouth from that bitch, Mary Jane.
Jade could have sworn she was alone when she started to drink the room temperature beverage, but much to her surprise, a boy was standing to the side next to the lockers...
Beck pushed his backpack over his shoulder, letting the full weight of it collapse onto him. He had a rough day. Fighting with Jessica, dealing with Dante, and watching Jade kiss another guy right in front of him. That was the worst of it all.
Dante wasn't even a decent guy. He was a douche bag, always playing around with the girls he could actually get his grimy hands on. Beck could only count how many girls he's cheated on if he used every appendage on his body. He was the worst choice in the world for Jade to make, especially for a first boyfriend in Hollywood Arts. This could describe her whole reputation with the other guys.
Beck didn't know if he was being protective, or if he was just making up excuses for Jade to stay away from Dante.
He was walking out the back door to the Black Box when he saw Jade from about seven feet away. She was coming out of the girl's dressing room, but she wasn't alone.
Dante had his arm loosely around her shoulders, and Jade wore a smile and the slight redness in her cheeks made Beck's heart sink down to his feet... so far, Beck was the only one who could make her do that. He noticed those types of things. Not Andre, Robbie, or anyone else made Jade West blush, but here was this kid, causing her to do it.
She turned to him and gave him a hug before waving goodbye to him, not noticing that Beck was right there, which made the entire situation worse. He needed an excuse, or a reason that she was letting him put his arm around her, and flatter her in ways she wouldn't let anyone else.
Unfortunately, Dante saw him.
He walked up with a smirk on his face, and some swag in his step, "Good thing you didn't take that bet."
And he kept walking, patting Beck on the shoulder as he left the Black Box out of the front entrance.